Scenes of Love, Angst, and Hope
by GeekyLoveLorne
Summary: Get a glimpse of scenes not seen in Just as Planned and Hitting a Nerve and sneak peeks at other Dasey stories to come.
1. 2011

Scenes of Love, Angst, and Hope

_I know you guys are waiting for the next chapter of Get In, but I wanted to give everyone a small holiday gift. Here are scenes hinted at or implied from all the stories I've posted including one of Derek and his private war with his unnamed opponent. I hope you enjoy this and look forward to your thoughts, as always please be honest but polite with your reviews, and happy holidays. _

_How He Got Her to Stay_

"Derek it's…" Casey could only stare at the gift.

"It's nothing." Derek cut her off. Sitting up, he wrapped his arms around his girlfriend and grinned inward. It was just a plain cheap present, but what it meant was anything but.

Glancing at the alarm clock on her side of the bed, Casey suddenly stiffened. Trying to rise, she found her lover, and possible something more, refusing to let her go. After the third try she let at an annoyed, "DER-EK! I'm late. I should have been home hours ago."

Tightening his hold, he just pulled his high school enemy and, if he had any say in it, future wife closer to him, whispered into her ear, "You are home Case," and kissed her gently on her shoulder. Picking up her cell phone from her nightstand, he held it in front of her, "If your cheating hubby really cared, he would have called by now."

Casey took the phone from him and saw that no one had called since Derek with his excuse of why she needed to come over on Christmas Eve. "We need to get our stories straight. Don't want the family figuring out something's off on Derekus." After working a double at the hospital, she had been too tired to argue or even shout his name. Maybe that was the reason why it wasn't until after Derek had greeted her with her favorite wine and was half way through the meal he had prepared, that she realized that they could have just done it over the phone. But glancing at the clock again, that was over four hours ago, when a goodbye kiss had somehow led them up stairs to his bedroom. After which she had slept until Derek had woken her with an early Christmas present. Maybe he was right, maybe she was home. Putting the phone and her gift on the nightstand, she leaned back into her boyfriend and sighed, "Fine, but I'll have to get up early tomorrow so I can get everyone's presents from the house."

"Works for me," Derek replied as he eased both of them back down onto their bed and back to sleep. And again he smiled at the gift he had gotten her; a set of keys to his house. Their home.

_The Boy She Loves, The Man She Hates_

Conan watched Ran decorate the tree with Yoshida and Haibara, and smiled at the cheap ring she had made him buy. Then he turned and continued to argue with Kogoro about telling his daughter the truth. "She doesn't want Shinichi and I'm not going to lose her after finally getting her in my life."

"She deserves the truth."

"Ran deserves a man who loves her, not a foolish boy that didn't know what he had until he lost it. Shinichi died that day in the park; I will not let his ghost ruin Ran happiness."

But even as he said these words, Conan looked from Ran to the vial that contained the 'cure' for the deaging poison in his system. Finally reaching an answer, he returned the vial to his pocket and gave Kogoro a defeated look, "After the holidays. I'll tell her after the holidays are over."

_Miss Step_

Derek watched the couple dance across the floor. He could tell that they didn't like each other, or at least she didn't like him. To anyone else watching the pair, they seemed to enjoy each other's company. But Derek knew this dancer; he had danced with this dancer. He knew every graceful step she could take and how to hold her so that others could see it too. Her partner did not. He seemed to want the attention only on him. There was too much space between their bodies and the dancer kept her face away him, like he had a bad odor. Her steps were seemed quicker, almost too fast for the routine, like she just wanted to get it over with.

Before Derek could continue his train of thought, there was a knock on his dorm room door. Pausing the recording Nora had sent him, he answered the door to a beautiful girl wearing next to nothing, "Can I help you?" With the door open, he could hear the Christmas party from down the hall.

The girl giggled and fell forward, forcing Derek to catch her and he groaned in annoyance. He lowered her to fall outside his dorm room and went back inside, locking the door behind him. This happened every time there was party. A girl would act tipsy and try to get into his room and into his pants. For over a year now, he hadn't as much as looked at another woman and spent most of his time studying. Not something you expect from an arrogant athlete and famed flirt. So anyone even passingly feminine had tried to get him to show interest. It hadn't worked. All it done had left a trail of scorned women and rumors about what happened before he moved into the dorm.

Derek just ignored them. He had already lived his greatest fear. Laughing at the love of his life and pretending that the small round object in her hand wasn't what it looked like. Watching the hurt come across her eyes and hear her say that if it had been serious than her answer would have been yes.

Rewinding the recording to watch for the twentieth time, Derek sat himself back down and focused on the text book in front of him. He could deal with enraging half the campus and rumors of a bad romance; he just didn't know how long he could go without his dancer.

"Taking center stage is Famed Greco Maxwell and his new partner Cassandra McDonald."

_Get In_

Derek worked on the lock and again sighed to himself about having to do this on Christmas Eve. He wanted to spend at least one day not fighting with Casey, but his opponent didn't want that. If they just sat and talked, she might realize the situation and may even become the threat his opponent saw her as. Finally the lock clicked causing Derek to grin. Casey had gotten a better one since last time and she had done it without him knowing. Picking up the small cage, he eased the door open and slowly walked in.

For a second he couldn't breathe, she was beautiful even as she slept. He felt like he could watch her all day, but the sudden pain in his stomach at the thought reminded him of the problems with that. Yes he could, but not with the way their relationship was now. It felt wrong. Plus it made him feel like a character from a book Lizzie was reading, Dusk or something like that. Refocusing on why he was, Derek walked over to her dresser and carefully went through her clothes.

It took him about an hour to find it. Gently dropping it into the jar inside the cage, Derek picked up the white mouse with a red ribbon around her neck and placed her into the dresser. Hopefully he would only have to do this once so that Casey will be on the lookout for small animals. Picking up the cage, Derek left the room, only stopping to see if anything else was off and to again to look at Casey and hope that she wouldn't be too mad tomorrow morning.

After ditching the cage in his room, but keeping the jar, he walked outside; taking out his cellphone and dialed the number he had gotten from his opponent's man. He could call the other number, but then he might have had to explain why he called them so late. They picked up on the first ring, "Yes."

Holding the jar up to the light, Derek stared at the spider, "Brown recluses aren't native to Canada; how would you have explained it being there?"

The voice purred on the other end, "Oh I've been waiting for you to call. Frank's healing just fine. Won't be able to hold a glass again, but he'll live."

Derek felt a ping of guilt over how he asked for the number and any other information the man was willing to give; but it went away when he reminded himself who the man was working for. "This was risky, even for you. There was no way you would have gotten away with it."

The voice laughed, "Who said I wanted to get away with it? I'm still ahead on points.  
>Casey will be mad at you and turn to me to vent. Can't you love the irony? With every prank you pull, you lose her a little more and one day soon she'll hate the very thought of you."<p>

Gritting his teeth, he thought once again about just killing the person on the other end. But how would he explain it to Casey? How could he make her understand that her world was surrounded with death and deceit? "This isn't a game. If anything happens to her, I will be the last thing you see."

Enthusiasm entered his opponent's voice, "That's it, get angry. Let the real you surface. I love it when you get rough. Go on tell me how you would do it. A gun? A knife? Or with your own bare hands, letting me stare into your soulless eyes as the life leaves my body? It would be the happiest moment of my existence. Face it Derek, that tramp next door will never know you like I do."

Derek could feel the hopelessness creep over him, but he ignored it. He had played these mind games before with his deranged foe and he knew how to fight back. Letting out a fake sigh, he said, "Maybe you're right." Hearing the sharp intake of breathe on the other end, he finished the sentence making sure he put every ounce of hope into it, "maybe she will know me better. Share my name. My bed. Have my child."

Derek was ready to continue, but the voice angrily cut him off, "Don't be foolish, Casey won't still love you if she saw the animal you truly are."

He chuckled at the words his opponent said, the hopelessness easing for the time being with the reaffirming of the truth. The fact he felt that everyone but Casey knew and acted as his flickering light at the end of the tunnel. "Thanks for reminding me what I was fighting for."

He hung up before the voice could respond and let the spider out of its jar. Derek had planned to just step on it, pound it into the ground and pretend that it was his opponent's face. But now watching the arachnid scurry off, he decided to take a chance. Brown recluses were called that because they kept to themselves and only struck out when threaten, just like him. And like Derek, the chances of the spider living peacefully were slim, but there was a chance. As he headed back into the house, Derek thought about the things that he had to hope for. His opponent only had until the end of next summer before they had to be in New York explaining to the other families about the loss of men and resources while Derek and Casey would be at whatever college she chose and he just happened to get into. They wouldn't be under the same roof anymore, but Casey would be safe. And maybe, just maybe, far from the danger and the constraints of family, they could finally happen.


	2. 2012

Scenes of Love, Angst, and Hope

Season Two

_Hey look an upload. Sorry that it's been so long but I've been busy. Now it's that time again for gifts and this year, I'm giving you a previews of later Dasey stories that I'm writing as well as tiny prequals to two stories I've already uploaded.. I hope you enjoy and happy holidays._

_Just as Planned_

Marti searched around the Christmas tree until she found the gifts she was looking for, Derek and Casey's presents to each other. Carefully opening them, she saw what she expected. For Casey was a poster with a picture of her under a no symbol and the words: **Hockey Jinx Keep Away** on the bottom. Derek had a similar gift. The most unflattering photo of him that Casey could find with the words: **Unwanted Cad for Sale** plastered over the top. These were the gifts that they would tell everyone about, the gifts that were meant to show how they supposedly felt for each other.

But Marti wasn't fooled. She saw the custom-made flash drives, looking like books and ballerina slippers, that Casey had on her bag. A gift she said she got from a Secret Santa trade at college. She didn't know who had bought it for her or so she said. When she had spoken about the Secret Santa, a very Derek-like smirk had appeared on her face and her eyes had rested on him. Marti had found the purchase on his laptop when she visited the duo last month. It was also during that time that she had seen, or as she suspected, allowed to see the gag gift that he had made Casey so that Marti could tip her off.

Derek's gift was no different, an Ipad. He said he got it from his girlfriend Kendra, a different Kendra. Only that was a last minute poorly thought out lie. When he was asked where he got it, he was halfway through the word keener before he realized what he was saying and changed it to Kendra. Who, he was quick to add, the family would never meet because she had dumped him right afterwards and no he didn't want to talk about it. The last part had him shoot Casey a glare, implying that she had something to do with it. Of course, Marti knew what Casey had done and that was getting him the high-tech gift. She had spied her stepsister coming out of the Radio Shack after the older girl had sent her away on a clever errand during a shopping trip together.

As always, the family had tried to convince the little girl that she was imagining things when she had reported this now development to them, but soon their demeanor would be different. Later when Derek unwrapped his rewrapped gift and cuts Casey's rejoicing off with giving her her own gift the two would argue in a manner more like barely veiled flittering than quarreling rivals. They would openly display their enjoyment of trading barbs with each other and when it came time for dinner, Nora and George's attempt to get them to sit on separate sides of the table would confuse the duo.

Derek telling an obvious lie, Casey being deceitful without a hint of trouble; those actions, in addition to all the other things they had done for and to each other over the years, would convince not just the family but also their friends to help Marti help the crazy pair realize they loved each other. And it only had taken a year longer than the little Venturi had calculated.

_Hitting a Nerve_

Pulling out the photos, Derek held them in front of the sleeping Casey, flipping through them for her to see their daughter's second visit to Santa. She was a sleep, not in a deep coma, despite what the doctors said. They had survived so much together, his amnesia, her boyfriends, his girlfriends, _each other_, that there was no way that a little brain injury was going to stop the pair of them now.

"Marti enjoyed herself with Santa this year, it wasn't like last time when she cried and peed over the guy." Derek gave a small chuckle at this, then glanced to see if this got a reaction from his wife, before continuing. "She kept jumping up and down and calling out to him." His voice cracked for a second as he spoke on, "Marti misses you, Nora and Dad miss you, the Lizzard and Edwin miss you, hell I even miss you." Again, he waited for a sign of retort, but received nothing again.

"You're not going to have the finally word, telling me, 'Get on the plane, Jerk.' You are going to be yelling my name while I drift away and leave you to sort things out and be the keener I love to torment. You still have to stop me from embarrassing Marti in front of her dates, to tell me to be a better influence to our grandchildren. To raise our daughter together." These last words came out choked with barely held back tears. Grabbing a tissue from the nightstand beside the bed, Derek blew his nose and gave Casey an annoyed look, "You've turned me into a sap, you could at least be awake to enjoy it."

Giving a sigh, he picked up the book he had bought. He had bought a lot of books in the last few years and read every one of them aloud in this hospital room. A few hours or a whole day, however much time Derek could spare from work and with their daughter he would spend it with Casey reading. Austin, Dickens, Doyle, Tolkien, Lewis, and many others, their words had come through his lips and hopefully into Casey's ears. This time it was Dickens again, _A Christmas Carol_. Obvious, right? He had held off buying the book for the holiday because it was such a cliché pick. The first year he had read_ The Polar Bear King_ and last year he had hunted down _The Greatest Gift_, the short story that _It's A Wonderful Life_ was based on, next year he would read _The Nutcracker_ and that one he was going to give commentary on. Maybe that would a reaction out of her.

He still had a lot to do before he got what passed for sleep for him. He had to visit Smarti's grave before going back to his and Casey's house, make sure all the gift were wrapped for Christmas tomorrow, and finally prepare for the trip he was taking into the latest news hot zone. But now, he was going to read about Scrooge and his ghosts. Squeezing his wife's hand, he began, "Marley was dead: to begin with….."

_To Watch Over You_

The rookie agent stared at the family through the scope of her sniper rifle. In her ear, her mentor and spotter fed her information about her target. While she had trained for the Paragon on and off since she was ten, this would be her first mission for them. If she failed, all the work she had done in the last six months would have been for nothing. Paragon would eject her from the organization and she would have to find another way to protect the people in that house.

The agent fought a small smile off her face as she saw the youngest daughter of the family dance around the living room throwing tinsel on everything and everyone and tried to lighten the mood that dampened the family. Her older sister seemed to appreciate the idea, but still picked up any spare streamer that fell to the floor and gave it to the younger of the two brothers in the room, making him put down the financial journal he was reading. The teenage boy smiled at her and helped his sister keep their younger sibling from coating the house in tinsel. The agent knew that people at times mistook the pair's action as something intimate but the duo were and probably always just be close friends.

Before she could continue with this line of thought though, her eyes rested on the older son of the family who was having a heated argument with a picture on the mantle, waving a bottle in his hand as he debated. From the way the man swayed as he spoke and his family's reaction to him informed the agent that this was far from the jerk's first drink and was in fact the normal for him since the death of the woman pictured. A ping of guilt hit the agent for just moment, as she knew that she were the cause of the former hockey player's pain. Or at least partly.

Her eyes narrowed again as they saw the drunken man's father take the bottle from him and sent him upstairs to sober up. It wasn't the scene between the pair that caught her attention but the movement of the shadowy figure who moved towards them from outside the house. Slowly releasing her breathe, the sniper pulled the trigger downing the Gorgon agent with a single headshot. A second figure moved out of the doorway to confirm the kill. Over the radio, her mentor congratulated her on completing the mission and broke communication as the cleaners appeared and began to quietly remove the assassin's remains and secure the area.

The mentor disappeared, this time for the good, as the family's mother entered the home. This would be Hera's last assignment, the agent was now completely on her own with Paragon. Theseus, the agent's new commanding officer's voice cracked on the line requesting her new call sign. Staring at an upper window where she the drunken man as he collapse onto his bed, she said only one word, "Venture."

_Be a Man, Act Like a Lady_

McDonald paced his apartment, fighting the hiccups as he awaited the arrival of his mother and his girlfriend's father. Venturi for her part was completely at ease laid on the couch playfully sucking on a candy cane and fully enjoying the panic attack her boyfriend was having.

She had already told him that she was planning on still dating him whether or not her father and stepmother approved of the relationship. They had been together since college after all. Besides she had a trump card that should help smooth things over.

Speaking of which, Derek had wound himself tight enough, it was time to have some fun and maybe get him to relax or maybe it would make him freak out some more. Walking over to the middle of the room, she waited for him to come back towards her. As Derek passed by, Casey pointed to the mistletoe above them, gave him a gentle kiss on the lips, whispered something into his ear, and slipped the trump card into his hand. Then she sat down on the edge of the coffee table, something that she knew drove Derek crazy, and waited.

Derek just stood there stunned, his hiccups gone, but it had been replaced with a cold sweat. George was going to kill him. The trump card was a note from the doctor informing Casey Venturi that she was indeed pregnant, something she had just told him with the words, "Merry Christmas, Pappy."

From outside their apartment their neighbors heard the well-practiced, "CA-SAN-DRA!"

_Will to Love_

Emily watched the family and tried not to feel the jealousy that she felt for the woman. They were completely happy even if they didn't realize it. Casey smiled brightly as she helped Derek put together the train set for his daughter, an equally bright smile on his face. As the couple worked on the construction of the tiny village the young conductor played with the toy stethoscope giving her stuff animals a good checkup, she was going to be a doctor like her aunt if she didn't become a teacher like her father. Yes, Emily shouldn't be envious, she was just the mother and wife, and one day soon she was going to either put an end to the masquerade or make that family very happy. She doesn't know which, but something had to give.


End file.
